2019 — Feb 15, Workplace Shooting (Henry Pratt Co.), (five killed by shooter)Aurora, IL-6

–6  (5 shot and killed by shooter; shooter shot and killed by police). ABC 7, Chicago.

–6  ABC 7 Chicago. “Many missed moments to stop a mass killer in Aurora.” 2-22-2019.

 

Narrative Information

 

Feb 16: “Police say the fired worker[1] who killed five people at a warehouse in Aurora,[2] Illinois, was able to buy the gun he used because a background check[3] didn’t catch that he had a prior felony conviction[4] in Mississippi.[5]

 

“Aurora, Ill. — The man who gunned down five co-workers and wounded a sixth at a suburban Chicago manufacturing warehouse before shooting and wounding five police officers brought his gun to a meeting in which he was going to be fired, authorities said Saturday [Feb 16].

 

“Because Gary Martin[6] brought his gun to Friday’s meeting at the sprawling Henry Pratt Co. warehouse in Aurora, he likely knew he might be about to lose the job he had held for 15 years, police Chief Kristen Ziman said at a news conference.

 

“Ziman said she didn’t know what had been conveyed to Martin, why he was being fired or whether he had shown up for his regular shift or was there just for the meeting. But she said as soon as he was fired, he pulled his handgun and began shooting. Three of the five co-workers he killed were in the room with him and the other two were just outside, she said.

 

“Frantic calls to 911 started pouring in from frightened workers at 1:24 p.m. and officers arrived at the scene within four minutes, authorities said. Martin fired on the officers when they arrived, striking one outside and another near the building’s entrance. The other three wounded officers were shot inside the building. None of their wounds are considered life-threatening, Ziman said Saturday. All of the officers who were wounded were shot within the first five minutes of police arriving at the scene, authorities said. After that flurry of shots and with officers from throughout the region streaming in to help, Martin ran off and hid inside the 29,000-square-foot building.

 

“Police used an armored rescue vehicle called a Bearcat to enter the building, Aurora police Lt. Rick Robertson said. Teams of officers then began to search the massive building, finding Martin hiding in the back about an hour later, he said. ‘He was probably waiting for us to get to him there,” said Robertson. “It was just a very short gunfight and it was over, so he was basically in the back waiting for us and fired upon us and our officers fired.’

 

“Police identified the slain workers as human resources manager Clayton Parks of Elgin; plant manager Josh Pinkard of Oswego; mold operator Russell Beyer of Yorkville; stock room attendant and fork lift operator Vicente Juarez of Oswego; and human resources intern and Northern Illinois University student Trevor Wehner,[7] who lived in DeKalb and grew up in Sheridan.” (Associated Press. “Police: Illinois gunman likely knew he was being fired.” Kiiitv, South Texas, 2-16-2019.)

 

Feb 16: “Aurora, Ill. (WLS)….The gunman is also dead, police said.[8] The gunman was identified as Gary Montez Martin, 45, of Aurora. Martin has six prior arrests in Aurora, according to a statement issued by APD Saturday, “including arrests for traffic and domestic violence related issues.” He was most recently arrested in 2017 by the Oswego Police Department for Disorderly Conduct and Criminal Damage to Property, the APD statement said. Martin had also been convicted of felony Aggravated Assault in Mississippi in 1995, a charge that appeared when he applied for a Concealed Carry permit but may not have appeared when he applied for and was given a FOID[9] card in 2014. His FOID card was later revoked because of this felony conviction….

 

“Aurora police said officers first responded to the Henry Pratt Company in the 400-block of South Highland Avenue just before 1:30 p.m. Police said two of the four first officers on the scene were fired upon immediately. More officers arrived as backup and were also fired upon….

 

“A SWAT force entered the 29,000 square foot building and found Martin. Police said the officers engaged Martin in gunfire and he was killed. It was not immediately clear if Martin was killed by a police bullet or his own gun….

 

“Martin was a veteran assemblyman at the century-old valve plant. Law enforcement sources told the ABC7 I-Team he was summoned to a meeting room where he was told he was being fired. He responded with a pistol, opening fire on the executives in the room, and then took his anger to the plant floor where dozens of his coworkers were still on the lines. ‘Next thing you know, he went walking back in front and we heard more shots and that’s when we just left the building, and he started opening up on the room and he was just shooting everybody,’ said John Probst, witness and survivor, who has worked at the plant for 40 years. There would have been approximately 30 people in the building at the time of the shooting, Probst said….” (ABC 7 Eyewitness News, Chicago, IL. “Aurora shooting: Victims identified in shooting at Henry Pratt Company; gunman was terminated employee with felony conviction.” 2-16-2019.)

 

Feb 17: “Aurora, Ill. (AP) — An initial background check[10] failed to detect a felony conviction that should have barred the man who killed five co-workers and wounded six others at a suburban Chicago manufacturing plant from buying the gun. Months later, a second background check of Gary Martin found his 1995 aggravated assault conviction in Mississippi involving the stabbing of an ex-girlfriend. But it prompted only a letter stating his gun permit had been revoked and ordering him to turn over his firearm to police — raising questions about the state’s enforcement to ensure those who lose their permits also turn over their weapons….

 

“Illinois lawmakers who support more gun control measures said Martin was able to keep the gun because of a flaw in the 1968 law that requires residents to get a Firearm Owner’s Identification card, or FOID card, to purchase firearms or ammunition. They must pass a background check, but the law does not mandate that police ensure weapons have been removed if a red flag is raised later. Legislation was introduced in 2016 to require police go to the homes of gun owners who have their FOID cards revoked and search for the weapons, but it failed over concerns it would overtax police departments, said Democratic Rep. Kathleen Willis. She wants to see a similar measure introduced again. ‘Let’s use some common sense. If you have someone with a felony, obviously they are not the best law-abiding citizens who are going to follow through when they get the letter and go, ‘oh yeah, here’s my gun, no problem,’’ Willis said….

 

“Lawmakers are also working to add teeth to restrictions on the transfers of gun ownership from a person whose permit has been revoked, Willis said. The change follows a 2018 shooting at a Tennessee Waffle House involving a man who had to give his guns to his father after his Illinois FOID card was revoked, but his father later gave them back to him. Legislators want people who obtain such weapons to sign an affidavit vowing to not return the weapons to the original owner.

 

“Martin was no stranger to police in Aurora, where he had been arrested six times over the years for what Ziman described as ‘traffic and domestic battery-related issues’ and for violating an order of protection….

 

“Records stemming from his 1995 conviction in Mississippi described an extremely violent man who abused a former girlfriend, at one point hitting her with a baseball bat and stabbing her with a knife, the Washington Post reported Saturday.

 

“After serving less than three years, he moved to Illinois and landed a job at Henry Pratt. The conviction was not detected in a company background check….” (Associated Press. “Aurora shooter’s permit was revoked but gun wasn’t seized.” 2-17-2019.)

 

Feb 22: “It only takes one mistake by law enforcement for any potential mass shooter to gain a deadly advantage on the system.

 

“There were at least ten mistakes in the case of Gary Martin according to Illinois state police officials, during a period of years leading up to his shooting rampage at an Aurora metal plant exactly one week ago.

 

“As police and public officials have scrambled to understand and explain how a convicted violent felon had a gun after being supposedly stripped of his Firearm Owner’s Identification Card, the drumbeat has grown louder for stronger laws and tighter enforcement of those already on the books.

 

“Authorities at several layers of law enforcement missed opportunities to stop Gary Martin, according to an exhaustive report by newly appointed acting Illinois State Police Director Brendan F. Kelly. ‘The only way we can honor those who died — the only way we will ever be safer — is to shine the brightest light on the good, bad, and ugly of this system and to lay bare for the public and policy makers the depth and breadth of our vulnerabilities,’ said Kelly in the unusually detailed and revealing investigative status report.

 

“Martin skated through two background checks, neither of which revealed a criminal history that should have immediately stopped his gun purchasing power. Those inquiries, standard for the thousands of people who request FOID cards in Illinois every year, involve the supposed scouring of ten databases according to state police. In Martin’s case, ISP officials now say his mid-1990’s stabbing and beating conviction were nowhere to be found on any of the criminal databases.

 

“The ABC7 I-Team first reported on that part of the shooter’s criminal history in Mississippi last Friday, just hours after he shot and killed five co-workers at the Henry Pratt valve company in Aurora after being informed of his firing. Six police officers were also wounded, but survived, in the afternoon shooting spree. Gunman Gary Martin also died in the attack.

 

“The spurt of workplace violence and the deadly mass shooting has prompted a weeklong review of Martin’s background and the tangled web of criminal data, gun laws, ownership rights and privacy concerns that frequently hamstring authorities’ efforts to prevent such attacks.

 

“In Illinois a valid FOID card is required to purchase a firearm. Martin’s had been revoked in 2014 according to state police records, although there apparently was no follow-up action to ensure he surrendered his card and any guns purchased with it. Last Friday, numerous people paid the price for that miscue-with a gun that should not have been in his hands.

 

“In Martin’s case, there seems to have been a “perfect storm” combination of loose regulations, incomplete criminal data, lack of communication between various agencies and little-if any-recognition of his own personal red flags.

 

“These issues are not new. In the statement from Illinois State Police, a 2013 report is cited. According to the “Improving the National Instant Background Screening System for Firearms Purchases” by the National Consortium for Justice Information and Statistics, “…at least 25% of felony convictions are not available to” screening agencies. It doesn’t appear that there has been much of a fix since 2013.

 

“Illinois has its own peculiarities. According to ISP: ‘Once an individual’s FOID is revoked, Illinois law requires a revoked FOID card holder to both surrender their FOID card and complete a Firearm Disposition Record within 48 hours of receiving notice of the revocation. The FOID Act requires ISP to notify local law enforcement when an individual’s FOID has been revoked. There is no statutory requirement for the local law enforcement agency to acknowledge receipt of FOID revocation notifications.’

 

“Even after the I-Team disclosed Martin’s Mississippi criminal history, and the shooter had attack his workplace and been killed, ISP officials say it took days for the database to be updated.

 

“The unusual openness by ISP and the agency’s public admissions that there had been serious mistakes made leading up to Martin’s attack, come as management of the state police force is being retooled by newly installed Illinois governor JB Pritzker. While the oversights and omissions did occur on another administration’s watch, it is left to the current police and politicians to repair a broken system.

 

“In his first TV interview since being sworn in, new Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul told the I-Team this week that Illinois’ FOID card enforcement needs to be examined as part of a comprehensive look at gun laws. Raoul pointed to Martin’s false answer on his FOID application in 2014 that went unchecked. Martin declared that he had never been convicted of a felony, which he had. The new state attorney general suggested to the I-Team that lying on a FOID application should be more than a misdemeanor, which is where it now stands.

 

“Gov. Pritzker and some other Illinois leaders are now lining up with pledges to address some of the shortcomings, including Cook County sheriff Thomas Dart who will announce a FOID-fix plan of his own on Friday morning….

 

“‘In 2018, 10,818 FOID Cards were revoked. In 2018, ISP received only 2,616 Firearm Disposition Records’ according to the state police. What that means is the 75 percent of all revoked FOID cards are blown off by the card holders. Gary Martin was one of those FOID revokees who ignored the state order and continued to possess a once-legal pistol…. The arrest statistics for FOID violators has been even more dismal than the self-surrenders. ‘From 2014 through 2019 (to date) there have been a total of 110 arrests’ for violation of FOID notices, according to ISP. That means less than 0.004 percent of revocations resulted in an arrest or conviction. There are currently 2,285,990 active FOID cards in Illinois.” (ABC 7 Chicago. “Many missed moments to stop a mass killer in Aurora.” 2-22-2019.)

 

Feb 22: “In response to the recent mass shooting in Aurora, Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart on Friday [Feb 22] called for a new law to require each county to create police units to confiscate guns from people who have had their gun licenses revoked. Cook County is one of the few departments that has a dedicated unit to go to the homes of people who have had their firearm owner’s identification cards revoked. The county has confiscated about 1,000 guns over the past five years, Dart said. The law would require each county to create a gun confiscation task force involving the sheriff, the state’s attorney and local police. Many police departments have limited resources or manpower to do so, so the bill would provide some funding by increasing the FOID application fee from to $15 from $10….

 

“The law also would have state police notify local police how many times a revoked gun license holder has tried to buy a gun. Currently, officers do not know how many guns a person might possess. Dart blamed the current ineffective laws on lobbying by the National Rifle Association.

 

“Currently there is no requirement for police to confiscate guns, so weapons often are left in the hands of people with violent felony convictions, mental health problems or orders of protection against them. The Illinois State Police disclosed that about 75 percent of people whose licenses were revoked do not comply with voluntary requirements to give up their guns.

 

“ ‘It is so dangerous, this system,’ Dart said. ‘This was by design, people (in the NRA) want ineffective gun laws. … This needs to change right now and people need to get serious about it.’….

 

“The sheriff spoke at his office in Maywood, where he stood next to tables covered with rifles and handguns taken from people whose FOID cards were revoked. Last year there were about 3,600 such revocations in Cook County alone, many of them in Chicago, which the sheriff said has its own confiscation unit. Even with a dedicated team in the suburbs, Cook County deputies can’t get to many of those with revoked licenses, leaving at least 1,000 unchecked last year, Dart said. ‘The process in place to get guns away from people who should not have them is broken, it’s insane and it’s ridiculously dangerous,” Dart said. “The system is the honor system, literally. That’s it.’

 

“The shooting in Aurora, he said, should motivate lawmakers to take action. Anyone who opposes that measure, Dart said, is opening the door to innocent people being ‘slaughtered.’

 

“A prominent gun rights advocate expressed skepticism about the proposal and opposed any increase in licensing fees — but was open to increasing the penalty for violations to a felony. Todd Vandermyde, a former lobbyist for the National Rifle Association who is now executive director of the Federal Firearms Licensees of Illinois, said there are ways to confiscate guns without creating a new mandate. In the case of the Aurora shooter, Vandermyde said, state police could have prevented him from obtaining a gun and license if they had initially found his prior felony conviction in the federal database. And Aurora police could have confiscated his weapon after the conviction was discovered….

 

“An earlier online version of this story incorrectly said that Dart’s proposal would require police to confiscate weapons from gun owners with revoked licenses.” (Chicago Tribune/Robert McCoppin. “Sheriff Tom Dart proposes creating units to seize guns from owners with revoked licenses, blames NRA for current ‘dangerous’ system.” 2-22-2019.)

 

Sources

 

ABC 7 Eyewitness News, Chicago, IL. “Aurora shooting: Victims identified in shooting at Henry Pratt Company; gunman was terminated employee with felony conviction.” 2-16-2019. Accessed 2-16-2019 at: https://abc7chicago.com/aurora-shooting-vigils-planned-for-5-dead-multiple-wounded-including-officers;-gunman-also-dead/5141841/

 

ABC 7 Chicago (Chuck Goudie, Barb Markoff, Christine Tressel). “Many missed moments to stop a mass killer in Aurora.” 2-22-2019. Accessed 2-22-2019 at: https://abc7chicago.com/many-missed-moments-to-stop-a-mass-killer-in-aurora/5151026/

 

Associated Press (Don Babwin and Julie Watson). “Aurora shooter’s permit was revoked but gun wasn’t seized.” 2-17-2019. Accessed 2-17-2019 at: https://www.apnews.com/41cfc4666d2a4563a5188a064a7d94d4

 

Associated Press. “Police: Aurora gunman likely knew he was being fired.” MSN.com, 2-16-2019. Accessed 2-16-2019 at: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/police-aurora-gunman-likely-knew-he-was-being-fired/ar-BBTF1kp

 

Associated Press. “Police: Illinois gunman likely knew he was being fired.” Kiiitv, South Texas, 2-16-2019. Accessed 2-16-2019 at: https://www.kiiitv.com/article/news/nation-world/police-illinois-gunman-likely-knew-he-was-being-fired/503-fff7f9d0-d779-4153-904d-a5f6db5fa5f6

 

Associated Press. “The Latest: Aurora victim started internship day he died.” 2-16-2019. Accessed 2-16-2019 at: https://apnews.com/61076852fb264d3aaac62f87411066c8

 

Chicago Tribune/Robert McCoppin. “Sheriff Tom Dart proposes creating units to seize guns from owners with revoked licenses, blames NRA for current ‘dangerous’ system.” 2-22-2019. Accessed 2-22-2019 at: https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-met-sheriff-dart-gun-law-legislation-20190222-story.html

 

GAT Guns, East Dundee, IL. “Illinois Gun Buyer FAQ.” ©2018. Accessed 2-16-2019 at: https://www.gatguns.com/il-gun-buyer-faq/

 

National Public Radio/Jacob Pinter. “Illinois Gunman Opened Fire When He Learned He Would Lose His Job, Police Say.” 2-16-2019. Accessed 2-16-2019 at: https://www.npr.org/2019/02/16/695448140/illinois-gunman-opened-fire-when-he-learned-hed-lose-his-job-police-say

 

 

[1] AP article the next day notes all that has been said thus far is that there were various workplace violations. (AP. “Aurora shooter’s permit was revoked but gun wasn’t seized.” 2-17-2019.)

[2] Aurora, a Chicago suburb, is in counties of DuPage, Kane, Kendall, and Will — predominantly DuPage and Kane.

[3] “The ISP [Illinois State Police] issue the card after conducting state and federal background checks. Once issued, the card is valid for ten years….Federal law requires a background check through the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, or NICS, for all firearm purchases. The ISP conducts the background checks in Illinois. The buyer’s background is checked at both state and federal levels in Illinois.” (GAT Guns, East Dundee, IL. “Illinois Gun Buyer FAQ.” ©2018. Accessed 2-16-2019. GAT Guns assists interested parties in getting FOID cards.

[4] Aggravated assault — stabbed an ex-girlfriend. (AP. “Aurora shooter’s permit was revoked but gun wasn’t seized.” 2-17-2019.)

[5] “He was able to buy the Smith and Wesson .40-caliber handgun he used in the attack because an initial background check didn’t catch that he had a prior felony conviction in Mississippi, the chief said [Aurora IL police chief Kristen Ziman]. Martin was issued a rearm owner’s identification card in January of 2014 after he passed the initial background check and he bought the gun that March 11. It wasn’t until he applied for a concealed carry permit five days later and went through a more rigorous background check that uses digital fingerprinting that his 1995 felony conviction in Mississippi for aggravated battery was flagged and his firearm owner’s ID card was revoked, she said. Once his card was revoked, he could no longer legally have a gun.” [But gun was not confiscated.] (Associated Press. “Police: Aurora gunman likely knew he was being fired.” MSN.com, 2-16-2019.) Another source notes police notified Martin that his FOIED card was revoked by sending him a letter telling him to relinquish any firearms. “Ziman said police records show that the letter was sent, but she doesn’t know whether police attempted to follow up.” (National Public Radio/Jacob Pinter. “Illinois Gunman Opened Fire When He Learned He Would Lose His Job, Police Say.” 2-16-2019.)

[6] Gary Montez Martin, 45. (KZYX, CA. “Illinois Gunman Opened

[7] Another source notes: “…Trevor Wehner, began his human resources internship at the Henry Pratt Co. in Aurora on Friday [the day he was killed].” Associated Press. “The Latest: Aurora victim started internship day he died.” 2-16-2019.

[8] AP article the next day notes he was killed by police “during an exchange of gunfire.” (AP. “Aurora shooter’s permit was revoked but gun wasn’t seized.” 2-17-2019.)

[9] Firearm Owners Identification card.

[10] Blanchard: Not sure why this is referred to as an “initial” check since it was all that was needed to get a gun. The only reason there was another investigation was because Martin applied for a concealed weapon permit.